Energy smart meters - the pros and cons

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Check out our complete guide to smart meters for everything you need to know about the new devices, from how they work to how to get your hands on one.

With utility costs skyrocketing and energy bills being a substantial expense, many homeowners have realised the need to upgrade to the latest "Smart electric meters". These are electronic digital devices that help to keep track of and record the usage of electricity in a home. The government plans to equip every British home with a smart meter by the end of this decade i.e. 2020. In fact certain utility companies like British Gas and First Utility have already begun to offer these to customers and these will help to replace traditional analog meters that need to be manually read, as they automatically record information and send it across to the utility provider. Like everything else smart meters have advantages and disadvantages, such as:

Benefits for consumers and the environment:

Helps to reduce power outages and tripping of electrical systems

Helps a consumer to economize to receive lower energy bills

Gives a homeowner detailed information about their power consumption

Since there is no manual meter reading required, it saves emissions from use of vehicles to visit a home

Helps to cut greenhouse emissions from an electricity plant

Is beneficial in maximising utility of existing power resources and obviates the need for new plants

Benefits for the power service provider:

Removes the need to have the meter read manually

Helps in increasing efficient use of power

Monitoring is easier and faster

Helps in determining price as per demand

Removes the need for building additional power units

Helps in determining power supply and reducing blackouts or outages

Improves profitability for the power company

However, some people believe there are drawbacks to these energy meters which may be taken into consideration when purchasing one. Some of the challenges for utility companies, the environment and consumers are:

To the environment and consumers:

Disposing of the old analogue meters

Consumers need to curtail power consumption or environmental benefits will be lost

The extra costs for the new smart meter

Verification of the accuracy of the device

Safety of personal data

Drawbacks for utility companies:

Having to ensure that customer personal data is secured

An increase in the budget outlay for related R&D and software

Storage of vast quantities of consumer data

Upgrading from old to new technology and systems

Convincing the general public and winning them over to shift to the new smart meter

It seems there are plenty of pros and cons when it comes to smart energy meters, and we'd love to hear what you think about the roll out of this new technology, get in touch on Twitter and let us know your thoughts.

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